"Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh said in an interview broadcast Friday he had rejected "millions of dollars" Saudi Arabia offered him if he stood up to the Shiite rebels." "He accused the Sunni-ruled kingdom of seeking to sow "sedition" in Yemen, and said its "hatred" for the Huthis was "sectarian"."

"Islamic State is not a significant threat in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. military said on Friday, as it declined to speculate on the Sunni militant group's claim of responsibility for a deadly bombing at Shi'ite Muslim mosque. "In terms of Saudi Arabia and (Islamic State), we have no indication that they pose a significant threat at this time," said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East."

"Yet, any semblance of meritocracy falls apart with the colossal (over) promotion of Mohammed bin Salman to defense minister, to head of the Economic and Development Affairs Council, chairman of Saudi Aramco’s Supreme Council and now to third-in-line to the throne. For a young man with negligible experience in these (or any other senior) roles, it is difficult to see how it could possibly be interpreted as meritocratic in nature – though his promotion may be an attempt to reflect Saudi Arabia’s youth with 60 percent of the population being under 21 years of age."

"3. GOL OFFICIALS AT ALL LEVELS KEENLY AWARE OF IMPORTANCE MAINTAINING CONTROL OVER INTERNAL SECURITY, INCLUDING WHAT EVER RESTRAINTS THEY CAN APPLY TO IRRESPONSIBLE BEIRUT PRESS. THIS WAS CLEARLY EXEMPLIFIED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S HANDLING OF THE BANK OF AMERICA INCIDENT. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND THE MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE STRONGLY SUPPORT DETERMINED AND FIRM RESPONSE TO LAWLESSNESS AND BELIEVE IT WILL DISCOURAGE SIMILAR ACTS FROM OCCURRING IN THE FUTURE. BUFFUM CONFIDENTIAL" (thanks Raed)

You have to watch this pro-Al-Qa`idah festival on Aljazeera TV. Unbelievable. The host and the guest, Ahmad Zaydan (the notorious Pakistan correspondent of Aljazeera--I almost said of Al-Qa`idah) basically promotes Al-Qa`idah in all its branches to the viewers. He at one point was talking about Bin Laden and his comrades and the simplicity of their lifestyle and said: "we used to eat bread and tea" but then quickly corrected himself. He refers to Sep, 11 terrorism on the US as "Ghazwah 11 Aylul (or Conquest of Sep. 11) which is the official name used by Al-Qa`idah. He said that Ayman Dhawahiri is now like the Queen of England, who does not rule--kid you not. There was a Lebanese guest who was opposed to this propaganda but he was not allowed to speak. They also invited a guest from WINEP to have him agree that Nusrah Front is now an acceptable moderate political party. You have to watch it to believe it. They even promoted the rule of Nusrah and the treatment of minorities by them in "liberated territories". I have not been watching Aljazeera and could not believe how much it has changed. There is not even a semblance of professionalism and no, the network was not like this all along.

PS Zaydan said twice that Nusrah at the level of leaders took a decision to sever ties with Al-Qa`idah but never explained why that was announced as the Qatari regime wanted for PR purposes.

All Saudi media today credited the Ministry of Interior for foiling the terrorist bombing in Dammam when the plot was foiled by two brave young men at the mosque's entrance who died to shield the worshipers in the mosque.

These sentiments were echoed by As’ad Abukhalil, professor
of political science at California State University, and author of the
Angry Arab News Service, who spoke to Sputnik.
"It is very clear that Qatar is now the official sponsor of An-Nusrah
Front," Abukhalil said. "The interview was quite significant in that
Qatar is now openly advocating on behalf of Nusrah and trying to draw an
artificial ideological line between Nusrah and ISIL while both drink
from the same ideological and philosophical well."
"Golani basically spoke of unofficial understanding that his
organization has with the West," Abukhalil added. "That they will spare
West of attacks provided they continue to receive Gulf arms and money,
and even indirectly Western arms and money."

From Khelil: "Look at this silly article boasting about how many British Jews are have been “Israelized” in the pro-Zionist online magazine Tablet, their evidence:

“The Anglo-Jewish refrigerator has followed this evolution. For Ashkenazim, gone are the cholent and chrain, the gefilte fish and goulash recipes that grandma brought over from Poland. In their place are pita, baba ganoush, shakshuka, and hummus. A takeaway treat now is no longer a salt-beef sandwich from Bloom’s deli in Golders Green but a chicken shwarma from Solly’s down the road. A dinner party is almost certain to be fueled by the cuisine of Jerusalemite chef Yotam Ottolenghi, who has brought previously unknown spices such as za’atar and ras el hanout to north London kitchens. Israeli words such as “yalla” are dropped into speech alongside Jackie Mason-esque yiddishisms to affirm a sense of Jewish identity.”

"The head of Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria last night said he had been told by the terror group’s leader not to use the country as a launch-pad to attack the West, in a highly significant change in its relations with America and Europe." "Our mission in Syria is the downfall of the regime, its symbols, and its allies, like Hezbollah.” "The shift in policy will be used by supporters of the Assad regime to argue that the West is now formally in alliance with Al-Qaeda."

"Until Wednesday, much of the coverage of the FIFA Congress surrounded whether delegates would vote to suspend Israel from world soccer." "For Israel to be suspended, three quarters of delegates would need to approve the motion. If that were a long shot before, it’s even more unlikely now."

One Saudi citizen rightly commented that supporters of the candidacy of Ali Bin Husayn are talking about corruption as the reason for the re-election of Blatter, forgetting that Ali has served as his deputy for years and that he is part of the corrupt leadership of FIFA.

Jihad Al-Khazin holds the dubious honor of being the only person to have edited both, the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Sultan, Al-Hayat, and the mouthpiece of King Salman and his sons, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat: "I shook hands with King Abdullah [of Jordan] and I told him as he was leaving: we are with you. I shook hands with president Sisi, and told him that I will be in Egypt in a few days, and I shook hands with Queen Rania". Word for word.

The US government insists on its right to fly planes over the South China Sea but can't understand Chinese claims in the...South China Sea: "“There should be no mistake about this: The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world,” he said."

"Alan M. Dershowitz, who said Portman was in his neuropsychology and the law class, told the Crimson that “she was a terrific student” who earned an A+ on a paper — “the highest grade in the class,” the newspaper noted." I am sure that Dershowitz grades on a Zionist scale especially that Protman is listed as one of his research assistants for his book The Case for Israeli War Crimes, which has been documented to contain plagiarized material.

I wish to thank all of you out there who voted for the candidate of Arab nationalism, Blatter, against the candidate of Western governments, Ali Ibn Al-Husayn of the Jordanian autocracy. I owe you one, o Zeus. You did respond to my prayers.

"Statistics collected by the National Observatory Against Islamophobia, a watchdog group, show that in the last two years 80 percent of the anti-Muslim acts involving violence and assault were directed at women, most of them veiled."

"But American officials say they are not striking significant, and obvious, Islamic State targets out of fear that the attacks will accidentally kill civilians." I have never ever encountered a more humane and a more sensitive occupation like the American. Never in my life. Look how much they care about the civilians on the receiving ends of their bombs. Is that not kind?

Western correspondents in Beirut have been reproducing Syrian rebel accusations: that the Syrian regime had created ISIS and their evidence is their claim that the Syrian regime never fights ISIS. But the US clearly has been avoiding fighting Nusrah Front (and even created an artificial silly distinction between Khurasani group (we don't hear about it anymore by the way) and Nusrah Front. Does that mean by their own logic that the US had created Nusrah Front?

Zionists have pressured the US government for years to include in the definition of anti-Semitism criticisms and attacks on the Israeli occupation state. And after the State Department succumbed to Zionist bullying and pressures, Zionists now say in defending their automatic labeling of critics of Israel as anti-Semites: well, have you see the official definition of anti-semitism by the State Department? It is there.

"At a rally last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted that he was the first Muslim leader to denounce anti-Semitism. He has, however, engaged in heated exchanges with the Israeli leadership". Look at this phrasing. They make it sound like opposition to anti-Semitism clashes with engaging in heated exchanges with Israeli leaders. They make it sound like: a true enemy of anti-Semitism would never ever engage in heated exchanges with Israeli leaders.

Cited in a column by Thomas Friedman: "Otto Scharmer, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who works with communities trapped in perpetual conflicts, defines the main features of the fundamentalist mind-set by its opposites: What is the opposite of an open mind? he asks. “You are stuck in one truth.” What is the opposite of an open heart? “You are stuck in one collective skin; everything is us-versus-them and, therefore, empathy for the other is impossible.” And what is the opposite of an open will? “You are enslaved to old intentions that originate in the past and not from the present, and so you cannot open up to any emerging new opportunities.”"

This is one of the silliest report: look how much reports about alleged human rights violations by victims of Israeli occupation receive in coverage versus reports about real and proven human rights violations by Israeli occupiers. What does Amnesty International want? That under occupation, those who collaborate with the military occupation, and those who give (false and real) information and coordinates to facilitate Israeli bombing campaigns should be spared punishment? And why did the report make the fact that some of the collaborators are Fath members as evidence that the motives of the punishment were political? Are you saying that collaborators should be spared because they belong to the rival party in Gaza? And when was there a foreign occupation in history when collaborators with the enemy were spared punishment? French resistance? Vietnamese? South Africa? Or even American war against British occupation? Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch would have issued reports against the brave rebels of the Warsaw ghetto if they were around. And are there any Palestinians other than collaborators with Israeli military occupation who are loved by Western governments, media, and human rights organizations?

I don't write regular columns in English anymore so I will say this briefly: It is indeed possible for ISIS to spread. If ISIS and its allies succeed in taking down the lousy Syrian regime (which has of late mastered the art of "tactical withdrawals" just like the Free Syrian Army of past years), the next border would be Jordan or Saudi Arabia, before Lebanon.

This newly released Wikileaks document is the best explanation of US government intervention in the minute affairs of AUB. And notice that the Lebanese dean of students at AUB was more loyal to the US government than the American administrators.

PS Student council president, Mohammad Dajani (who is mentioned here) is the last president of the student council (before the civil war) and ran on the ticket of the Fath movement. But it seems that the AUB administration was rather pleased with him.

"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is leaning toward not including Israel on an annual list of states responsible for violating children's rights in armed conflicts, despite proposals to include it, UN diplomatic sources said."

"Israel also makes an appearance, with a cartoon of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shown riding an ISIS "monster," holding a bloody sword - this in criticism of Israel's alleged contribution to the strengthening of the terror organization." (thanks Amir)

I don't pray and the last time I prayed I was still a boy but I will make an exception. Today, I am on my knees praying to Marx and to the ancient gods of the Greeks and ancient Egyptians wanting Blatter to be re-elected to prevent yet another son of the Zionist Hashemites of Jordan from being represented in some international organization, silly or not. I will record this one for you, O Zeus.

PS Do you notice that Zionists are pushing for members of the Zionist Hashemites of Jordan to serve in international organizations? No wonder because they are more protective of Israeli interests than the Israeli diplomats. The UN ambassador of Jordan takes more order from the representative of Israel at the UN than from her own government.

People in English language world are not aware: do you know that it is now quite common to read in Saudi and Qatari regime media that Obama is a Shi`ite Muslim and that this is the real motive of all his foreign policies? Kid you not.

He is about to announce (under Qatari regime pressure) that he will sever ties with Ayman Dhawahiri and will thus become a feminist, liberal, secular, democratic Islamist Jihadi terrorist, and for that he wants Western and Gulf money and arms but openly this time. Congratulations for yet another democratic ally of the West in the Arab world.

CNN Arabic is so hilarious in its production of propaganda from Hariri and Saudi media that it devoted a whole articles to tweets against Nasrallah, as if there are no tweets against Saudi King or Hariri.

"“Petit, viens,” — little boy, come here — a French soldier called out at a checkpoint in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic.

For five months, an unknown number of people in the French forces, sent to protect civilians from the violence tearing the country apart, forced boys to perform oral sex on them, according to testimonies collected by the United Nations. The boys, aged 9 to 15, said they had sometimes been lured with the promise of military rations."

For a few years she and other Western correspondents in Beirut have been maintaining that the Syrian regime avoids fighting ISIS, what gives?? "The group survived years of battles against Syrian government forces". Which is which, Ms. Barnard?

Why is it that the only Palestinians that the West (governments, media, and human rights organizations) care about are those murderous collaborators of Israeli occupation who direct Israeli bombers over Palestine?

"The plan, drawn up by the insurgency’s three most powerful regional backers - Turkey, Saudi and Qatar - is to overrun the entire northwest of Syria and create a rebel controlled “safe zone,” and through direct military intervention prevent the Syrian regime’s aircraft and missiles from targeting it, thereby essentially setting up a de facto mini state." "This is what the nations who claim to back the Syrian people’s aspirations for freedom and a democratic inclusive state have deemed fit to unleash upon us. After failing to topple the Syrian regime for four years and realising there would never be any political compromise that would fit their goals, they have now decided to partition Syria and facilitate its partial takeover by jihadists."

"The documents mark a departure from previous EU military strategy in its overt targeting of civilian infrastructure in Libya. Numerous EU countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom participated in NATO-led air strikes on Libya in 2011."

"Oxfam said on Tuesday that the Saudi-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against Houthi rebels has contributed to an extra three million Yemenis being denied drinking water. This means, according to Oxfam, that at least 16 million out of a population of 24 million do not have access to clean water and sanitation. The water shortage has brought a genuine threat of potentially life-threatening illnesses becoming widespread, including malaria, cholera and diarrhoea, Oxfam said." (thanks Amir)

From Basim: "Doctor Toufic al-Sudairi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, told Al Arabiya News that the ministry is tightening its rule of criminalizing anyone who raises the slogan of sectarianism, or who mobilizes people in its name. “The Ministry of Islamic Affair’s approach is represented in committing to Saudi Arabia’s moderate and centrist message and in equally treating (Saudi citizens),” Sudairi said."

I was disgusted to see that women were banned from the funeral processions in Qatif in the wake of the bombing in Qadih. I received this official religious statement which was used to ban women from participating (although some women violated the ban and participated). Do the Shi`ites of Qatif wish to replicate the gender rules of House of Saud? Qatif was historically a more socially liberal place in the area.

From Fadi: "Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, in northern Syria in May 2013 with rebel “Free” Syrian Army Colonel Abdul-Jabbar who at that time was head of the western backed and funded Aleppo Military Council (video here). Above right: “Free” Syrian Army Colonel Abdul-Jabbar with ISIS Emir Abu Jandal after their forces jointly capture Menagh Military Airbase in Aleppo province, August 2013"

Regarding the Iraqi military slogan in the operation for Ramadi, "At your command, o Husayn" (and not the other lousy translations that I have seen in Western media of the slogans). As I wrote in Arabic this morning, religious slogans and chants mean nothing to me: they sound like those who call on people to buy fruits and vegetables from their carts in Lebanese streets (when I was a child). I prefer "At Your command, o Habash" or "At your command, o Marx" but why is the Saudi media (and by extension these days, Western media) regarding this slogan as sectarian in nature? Husayn is the grandson of the Prophet, who is the prophet of Sunnis and Shi`ites alike. Husayn was never a divisive figure among Muslims and the calling of his name was never seen as sectarian or provocative, although the (Sunni?) US Department of Defense objected to the slogan, as if the US was not a full partner in crime in the sectarian war launched by the Saudi government after 2003, and especially in the wake of the humiliation of the Israeli army in 2006 in South Lebanon. Saudi Arabia wanted to help Israel by finding a way to undermine wide Arab and Muslim support for resistance movements in the region. Furthermore, it is telling about the skewed standards and criteria that the blatant and explicit and grotesque discussions in Saudi and Qatari media about the wholesale extermination of all Alawites does not generate US condemnation but this slogan does.

"“The real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel,” California State University professor As’ad AbuKhalil has said. “There should not be any equivocation on the subject. Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel.”" For the umpteenth time: I never said the first sentence cited and widely circulated by Zionists. I said: that the aim of BDS should be to bring down the state of Israel. I never said that it actually is. But then again: since when do Zionists care about truth?

From Ali, Angry Arab's chief correspondent in Turkey: "What Reuters conceals when it reports Turkish government support for Islamist groups, of course US&Saudi cooperation in supporting Islamists, including Al Qaeda linked Ahrar ash-Sham groups. l Reuters doesn’t eager to mention that it was not just Turkish intelligence operation, but CIA organizing this arm flow into Syria.

“One of the truck drivers, Murat Kışlakçı, was quoted as saying the cargo he carried on Jan. 19 was loaded from a foreign plane at Ankara airport and that he had carried similar shipments before. Reuters was unable to contact Kışlakçı.”

Reuters of course, doesn’t detail the ‘foreign plane’ in Esenboga, but Turkish press, when covering this scandal, emphasized more on the issue. In fact, testimony of the driver, who was stopped in Adana while carrying arms to Syrian border concides with the New York Times report;

“With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad” (…) “From offices at secret locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia, and have vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive, according to American officials speaking on the condition of anonymity”

And this is TIME saying, CIA agents located in southern Turkey, close to Syrian border were in charge about which Syrian armed group should be supported. "

"Security analyst Shoebridge, however, who has tracked Western support for Islamist terrorists in Syria since the beginning of the war, pointed out that the secret Pentagon intelligence report exposes fatal contradictions at the heart of official pronunciations:“Throughout the early years of the Syria crisis, the US and UK governments, and almost universally the West’s mainstream media, promoted Syria’s rebels as moderate, liberal, secular, democratic, and therefore deserving of the West’s support. Given that these documents wholly undermine this assessment, it’s significant that the West’s media has now, despite their immense significance, almost entirely ignored them.” "

"His lecture on “justice and reconciliation” for Hebrew University, for instance, endorses the Zionist project of establishing a “Jewish national homeland” in Palestine." "In other words, Bassiouni is suggesting in effect that more international assistance and support for Zionist colonization would have made the ultimate dispossession of the Palestinians a more orderly process with fewer troublesome long-term consequences."

"You held a series of secret meetings in Europe with officials from the Gulf States. What did you learn?

"When you sit down with them behind closed doors, they talk just like us. When they met with (US President Barack) Obama this week, they spoke about Iran in the same terms we do – only in much harsher words. At present, there are zero gaps between us and them." "

"Indeed, Israeli women are now at the forefront of hostility to the Palestinians and their dream of statehood. Take Ayelet Shaked, the 39-year-old justice minister. She is a vocal opponent of a Palestinian state and infamously shared a racist essay that compared Palestinian children to baby snakes during the Gaza war."

"The Swedish delegation is scheduled to meet Saudi government officials, as well as Swedish and Saudi businesspeople." “Sweden makes it clear that we should have economic exchanges even with countries that are not fully democratic and do not share our views on all issues,” said Damberg."

"During his successful election campaign, Essebsi was dogged by a foreign funding scandal after it was revealed that the UAE had given him a gift of two luxury armoured cars.Opposition politician Anwar Gharbi seized on Farhat’s claims, demanding the establishment of an all-party parliamentary committee to investigate reports that the UAE had sought to use its influence to “destroy our country”.“The intervention of the UAE in Tunisian affairs is extremely dangerous, and represents a clear attack against the country and its people,” he told local news site Quds Press."

It has to be said that not only corruption in Israel is as widespread as many Arab countries, but that the Israeli justice system is as corrupt and politically manipulated as many Arab justice systems. They always uncover corruption scandals of major Israeli officials but they always manage to avoid jail time, or if they do, they never get long sentences.

Dore Gold wrote his dissertation at Columbia about Saudi Arabia. The material was later published in a book titled "Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism (Regnery, 2003)." That was the time when Saudi-Israeli relations were not as solid as they are today.

""The day after Salazar’s arrival in Washington, Spain’s ABC newspaper published a detailed account of the emerging case against Cabello, and last month, ABC reporter Emili Blasco followed up with a book laying out the allegations of Salazar and other defectors, who say Cuba’s communist regime and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been cut in on the trafficking."" (thanks Joseph)

" "Freedom of navigation and overflight by no means mean that foreign countries' warships and military aircraft can ignore the legitimate rights of other countries as well as the safety of aviation and navigation." "

You would not tell from English language Saudi propaganda outlets that Saudi and Qatari media are quite jubilant about victories of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In this headline from one of the most vulgar and crude of the media of Saudi princes and their in-laws, Al-Arabiyyah, there is a headline that Iran has shipped scud missiles to destroy ISIS. So in English, Saudi media say that Iranian and Syrian regimes don't fight ISIS, while in Arabic they say that Syrian and Iranian regime are savage in the fight against ISIS.

So the entire US government has been able to denounce the sectarian battle cry of the Shi`ite mass militias but has not been able to denounce calls for wholesale extermination of `Alawites by militias armed and financed by US government and its clients in Syria?

He held the sign in the wake of the bombing of Al-Qadih. His sign says: "Sectarian agitation is a time bomb: Together against sectarianism." He is a well-known activist on twitter who has been jailed by the Saudi regime.

Saudi students in the US alerted me to this yesterday: they pointed out to me that the official statement about the bombing in Qadih in Saudi Arabia against a Shi`ite mosque contained not one word of criticism against the Saudi regime. Not one word. Furthermore, the entrance to the town has to pass through a Saudi military checkpoint.

The US government and Gulf regimes are about to officially sponsor and endorse the Al-Qa`idah branches in Syria. The fanatical Bin Ladenite Zahran Alloush had only to change his discourse in an interview with US journalists to become acceptable to the US and Gulf regimes (Saudi regime has been supporting him all along of course). And the Qatari regime the official sponsor of Nusrah Front in Syria has been working with the Nusrah leadership so that Julani can come on Aljazeera (it will happen tomorrow or this week) and distance himself from Al-Qa`idah of Zawahiri. But the ideology remains the same, of course. Mark your calender yet again: the US government yet again is arming and funding Ben Ladenite rebels in Syria. And when the monsters come and attack US targets, the idiotic chorus will express puzzlement.

Not a single flag of House of Saud was seen in the demonstrations in Qatif today. They raised banners and signs showing samples of the sectarian hateful anti-Shi`ite slogans and teachings in the Kingdom of Horror. This particular poster shows official textbooks used by Saudi ministries containing anti-Shi`ite teachings. (Anti-Shi`ite teachings in Saudi curricula are not subject to US congressional investigations like anti-Jewish teachings).

Sunday, May 24, 2015

"Iran is a lonely country where people feel as if they are surrounded by enemies, including the United States." How dumb of the Iranian people. The US as the enemy? Where did they get this crazy idea from?

From a Western journalist in the Middle East: "I doubt Bouthaina Shaaban was coming to the Sheraton “to drink and dance and carouse.”I doubt he himself “found” dozens of jihadis at the borderthe syrian minister of interior is not Muhammad al-Shaara, as filkins writes twice, he is Shaar, and he is not “known for his iron fist,” he is not known for anything in fact, there is no way Filkins ever heard of himhis last point, attempting to make a comparison between the syrian regime and ISIS as if the difference is one between cold war totalitarian or authoritarian regimes is especially stupid given the vast differences that in fact do exist not just between the syrian regime and isis but even the syrian regime and the much more repressive saudi regimeand he closes by saying that at least the syrian regime left palmyra alone, as if otherwise it is identical to isis".

Notice this mantra: when they say that Obama disappointed "the Arabs" or that Obama did not respect "the Arabs", they know that we know that they are talking about Arab Gulf potentates but think that we don't notice. I say this as much as I detest Obama. If anything, Obama (like any other American president) gave too much to those potentates.

"Israel is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has never publicly declared what is widely considered to be an extensive nuclear weapons program. A conference might force Israel to acknowledge it. Since adopting a final document requires consensus, the rejection by the United States, backed by Britain and Canada, means the entire blueprint for global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation for the next five years has been blocked after four weeks of negotiations. The next treaty review conference is in 2020. That has alarmed countries without nuclear weapons, who are increasingly frustrated by what they see as the slow pace of nuclear-armed countries to disarm."

"For years, the Israelis have complained about the Islamic republic's incendiary rhetoric, particularly that of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the underlying reality remains that, of the two, only one country has a nuclear weapon, and that's not Iran."

"A government that is able to hide its own atrocities on “national security” grounds will be one whose public endlessly focuses on the crimes of others while remaining blissfully unaware of one’s own nation. That is an excellent description of much of the American and British public, and as good an explanation as any why much of their public discourse consists of little more than proclamations that Our Side is Better despite the decades of brutality, aggression and militarism their own side has perpetrated."

"Kershner appears to know full well what she’s up to. The current Israeli ruckus over Hezbollah’s alleged fortification of villages is, she surmises, part of an effort “to pre-empt or deflect the inevitable international censure that comes with civilian casualties”. Thanks in part to articles like hers, however, Israel is saved from having to fight this battle alone. The collaborative arrangement hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which ran the recent headline: “Israel’s secret weapon in the war against Hezbollah: The New York Times.” " (thanks Amir)

US embassies in the Middle East officially protest to the host governments whenever they spot any anti-Jewish references in the local press. Yet, they never ever protest the avalanche of anti-Shi`ite and anti-`Alawite and even anti-Christian manifestations of hatred in the local press.

In a spontaneous procession, a brave Saudi covers his head with a box which shows the visages of sectarian Wahhabi clerics and the names of Saudi TV stations dedicated to sectarian hatred of Shi`ites (the TV stations here are both owned by Prince `Abdul-`Aziz bin Fahd).

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

The comments that appear in the comments' section are unedited and uncensored. The thoughtful and thoughtless, sane and insane, loving and hateful, wise and unwise ideas that they contain do not represent the Angry Arab. They only represent those who write them, whoever they are.